In recent years, telecommunications have advanced from wired calling to wireless calling and from circuit-switched networks to packet-switched networks. In addition to voice calling, telecommunications devices now allow a range of communications, from emails to text messages, support numerous applications, and provide many data services, including Internet browsing and video streaming. These new message types, applications, and other data traffic consume significant network resources, often resulting in congestion. Typically, much of this congestion is caused by a small subset of users referred to as “extreme users.” Such extreme users only constitute a small fraction of total users (e.g., seven percent), but their data consumption accounts for a significant part of the network data traffic (e.g., forty-five percent).
One solution to this network congestion is to equip the network with additional resources to enhance data throughput. Adding and maintaining these resources is expensive, however, and the additional resources are often under-utilized at non-peak times of day.
Another solution to the network congestion is reducing the maximum bit rate at which service is provided to the extreme users. The reduced maximum bit rate would apply at all times of day and in all cells, however, including non-peak times and locations in which extreme user data consumption does not pose any problems. The reduced maximum bit rate also tends to result in a negative user experience for the extreme users.